By Anil Varma April 12 (Bloomberg) -- India’s rupee advanced to its strongest level in 19 months on optimism faster economic growth will boost company earnings, prompting overseas investors to increase holdings of local stocks from a record. The currency extended the best week in three months after foreigners raised total ownership of shares to an all-time high $78 billion on April 8, data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India show. The government forecasts the $1.2 trillion economy to expand 8.2 percent in the year that started April 1, the most since 2008. Companies will report this month financial results for the 12 months ended March 31. “The rupee’s rally will continue as Asian economies continue to outperform,” said Thio Chin Loo, a senior currency strategist in Singapore at BNP Paribas SA. The rupee strengthened as much as 0.2 percent to 44.185 per dollar, the strongest level since Sept. 8, 2008, before trading at 44.26 as of 10:08 a.m. in Mumbai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. BNP, France’s largest bank, predicts the rupee to rise to 42 in the coming months. Offshore contracts indicate bets the rupee will trade at 44.29 to the dollar in a month, unchanged from April 9. Forwards are agreements in which assets are bought and sold at current prices for future delivery. Non-deliverable contracts are settled in dollars rather than the local currency. Infosys Technologies Ltd., India’s second-biggest software exporter, will report tomorrow its earnings for the year ended March 31. The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index advanced through the last nine weeks, the longest winning streak since June 2009. The index has risen 65.5 percent in the past year. --Editors: Sandy Hendry %INR RBI@IN To contact the reporters on this story: Anil Varma in Mumbai at avarma3@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sandy Hendry at shendry@bloomberg.net

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